


The Wanderers

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Christmas, Christmas AU, Christmas Eve, F/M, Ice Skating, Immortal to Mortal, Immortality, Immortals, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 17:51:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13036326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)Day 16 of the 25 Days of BAU Christmas. <3





	The Wanderers

Christmas sure has changed over the years, Spencer thought to himself as he strolled down the street.

December 16, 2017. 

When was he born again? After more than 500 years it was hard to keep count. That’s right - October 12, 1502. As an immortal, he was a young 515 years old; he’d looked about the same since the 1530s, with the occasional change in hairstyle and clothing. In the 1500s, he was donning tights. Thankfully, current clothing trends were much more suited to someone like him. Relaxed and comfortable. 

Now living in DC and working with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, he felt more comfortable than he had in a long while. 

Immortals weren’t common, but they weren’t uncommon either. And it wasn’t a secret. His team members knew he’d been walking around on the planet for nearly 550 years. 

Some lifetimes were pleasant, some were amazing, some were less than stellar and others were horrible, but he was still here despite it all. Even though the last 100 years or so had been exceptionally lonely, with him basically wandering around and completing degree after degree in an attempt to understand everything there was to know, he was here now and he’d felt better than he had in a long time. 

An immortal was lucky to make a couple of connections a lifetime. Maybe that was why he had so many friends now; he’d been drifting the planet lonely for so long that his team was balancing that out. One thing they tended to bring up (all mortals did really) was whether or not being immortal was all the movies made it out to be. “Depends,” he’d say, “If you’re looking at the movies that romanticize it, then no, but I’ve seen quite a few decent portrayals were actors have nailed what it’s like to be alive for so long and seeing the people you love die. Some days I’m glad I am the way I am. I’ve learned more than any mortal ever could. But I would love to live life with a little more urgency, knowing there was end to it, you know?” No one really did - that was the problem.

Immortals could become mortal. But in order for that to happen, they had to find their soulmate. During the course of his 515 years, he’d dated two other immortals turned mortal. He’d been their soulmate, but unfortunately, neither of them were his, so he was still here and they were gone.

Watching kids and adults alike bundled up to defend against the cold, Spencer couldn’t help but feel a warmth in the air. Despite the softly falling snow, Christmas lights (developed more than 350 years after he was born) decked the trees and streetlights and fences all along the sidewalks, exuding a warmth and sense of comfort he didn’t realize could exist in such cold temperatures. There were smiles all around; families were finishing up some last minute holiday shopping, others were in the park chasing snowflakes, and others still were enjoying hot cups of coffee and cocoa as they caught up with friends they’d lost track of during the holiday craziness. 

Thankfully, the BAU didn’t have any cases, so he was off for the night. Instead of going home to sit in his apartment (which held a beautiful tree decked out in ornaments very old and very new) alone, he decided to grab a hot cocoa and sit outside on a bench. If there was anything he learned over the course of 515 years, it was that people watching was fun. 

Fifteen minutes past - a fraction of a fraction of his life - but he was smiling. In a life this long, one truly had to appreciate the little things. Like the pretty woman strolling along the other side of the street by herself, hands in her pockets, looking much like him. Was she like him? A wanderer?

Born May 3, 1612.

It was your 405th Christmas on this planet. 

It had started to lose its charm after so long, but the past couple of years the magic was seeping back in with no explanation. 

You weren’t going to press the planet for an answer. Nah. You were just glad that your favorite holiday had finally had some meaning again. 

Immortals could be born from two immortals, two mortals, or one of each. There was really no rhyme or reason to it. Your father was a mortal, gone many, many hundreds of years now. Mom however - she was still here. Thankfully. Having to go through an immortal life without someone consistent wasn’t something you’d wish on anybody. It was great to have mom here. Although ever since she started seeing Charlie, you had a feeling this would be your mother’s final lifetime. She looked like she was head over heels. Although she hadn’t confirmed it to you, you were pretty sure she knew this was the end of the line for her - and she couldn’t have been happier. Mom was 1001. You’d had quite a few siblings, mostly mortals, all gone now, but Celine was out there somewhere, doing her own thing. She would be around forever - you just knew it. 

“Hey, Mom,” you asked, shrugging on your coat and zipping it up. (Sidenote, thank the gods for this time period’s taste in clothing. Corsets and Elizabethan collars you would never miss. Too constricting.) “Can I ask you something? And please be honest with me.”

She cast her eyes downward. She would tell you the truth, but you could tell she didn’t want to. “Of course, honey.”

“When you met Charlie…did you feel it?” Obviously, you’d never felt it yourself, but immortals told a tale of feeling a weight lift, like a spell was cast, when they met that person that would be there soulmate and make them mortal again. “Are you mortal now?”

“Yes, sweetie.” Charlie was a mortal. “I’ll age with him, probably at around the same rate. And then in about 50 years or so, I won’t be here anymore.” For some, this would be a sad thing, but your mother was smiling. “I finally found my soulmate. I kind of felt like I was being surrounded by feathers when it happened. It was…euphoric.”

With a soft smile, you kissed your mother’s cheek. “I’m so happy for you, Mom.” You were - truly. Being alive for so long was draining. But you hadn’t met your soulmate either and that meant there was a possibility that in 50 years or so, you would be alone.

It wasn’t a thought you could dwell on. You’d go crazy. So instead you decided to take in the magic of Christmas and do a little people watching, maybe even grab yourself a hot peppermint mocha. Yea, that would do the trick. Immortals learned many, many tricks to keep their spirits up.

The snow sparkled in the moonlight as you walked down the block, smiling at strangers as you opened the door to your most recent favorite coffee shop. With a mocha in hand, you went outside and watched the children ice skating. After 400 years, that was something you still hadn’t perfected. 

Your drink was gone way too quickly. With the sweet smell of mint and chocolate still on your lips, you threw the cup into the garbage can and stuffed your hands in your pockets and headed…somewhere. You weren’t sure where. In all likelihood, you’d just wander around for a while, taking in the sights of your newest home city. 

For the most part, nothing stood out. Houses were houses, lights were flickering, people were walking and talking and smiling, but out of the corner of your eye, you saw a man - tall, longish wavy brown hair, slightly saddened brown eyes and alone. There was something about him that stood out. 

When you turned around to get a second glance, he was gone, but something told you that you might get to see him again.

Over the course of the next couple of days, Spencer saw the mysterious woman a few more times. He’d met thousands, if not tens of thousands of people in his lifetime, but she was standing out for some reason and that said something to him. What? He didn’t know. But it said something. 

It was just five days before Christmas when he decided to go out and get a little extra something for his godson, Henry. 

As he snaked in and out of the seemingly thousands of people doing their last minute shopping, he got turned around and suddenly he was on the ground. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”

A female voice caught his attention as a hand reached out to pull him up from the ground. “I’m so sorry! I’m doing a little last-minute stuff. I’m trying to find a good gift for my mom’s boyfriend and I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

It was her. With a smile, he grabbed her hand and stood up. “I’ve seen you before.”

Her face softened in recognition. “Oh, yea, I’ve seen you too. I’m Y/N.”

“I’m Spencer.” At 515, he was a man of science through and through, but the world was screaming at him to get to know this woman. “Any chance we could do our Christmas shopping together? I need something for my nephew. Maybe we could help each other.”

“That sounds good to me. I’m starved though,” she said. “Food first?”

After finding perfect gifts for Spencer’s nephew and your (for all intents and purposes) father-in-law, you promised to keep in touch, exchanging numbers and turning away from each other with smiles on your faces.

Over the course of two days, during which Spencer was away on a case, you texted each other. He was smart, pretty, kind; all-in-all he seemed like a great guy, and you really wanted to get to know him more, but you were always honest at the beginning of a relationship. 

You: I’m an immortal, just so you know. I don’t want you to go into something without knowing.

S: You are?! I haven’t met another immortal in nearly a century and a half.

You: Wait, you’re immortal too?! Finally, someone I can talk to that isn’t my mother. Not that I don’t love her more than anything, but it’ll be nice to talk about it with someone else that understands.

The news made you giddy. You couldn’t wait for him to get home.

Thankfully, he made it back at around 8 on the evening of the 22nd - just three days before Christmas. Excited over the news of your connection, you decided to grab a cup of coffee and talk. Eventually, you were both so tired that you decided to go home for the night, but only with the promise that you’d grab breakfast together in the morning and continue your talk.

“Morning!” He said the next day as Y/N approached. 

Pancakes. They both needed pancakes and coffee. “Okay, so you’re 405. Mother is an immortal. Father wasn’t. But now your mom is mortal because of this Charlie guy she met.”

“Yup,” she replied. “At over 1000, I think my mom is grateful she finally found someone. Though she loved my father, she loved her immortality too. She said she thinks it was her love of living a long life that kept her from truly loving my father to the point of mortality. And your parents were both mortals?”

“Yea,” he said forlornly. “Both gone in the 1500s.”

He could tell she felt bad for him. Normally, the pity would bother him, but she knew what the possibility was like. She’d been fortunate enough to have her mother here, but she knew the possibility of what he’d been through. 

Over breakfast, they exchanged more tales of the travels around the world and their backgrounds. Spencer had come to the states from England, while she had come here from France. They’d both been alive for medical breakthroughs, the births and deaths of famous composers and artists, wars - all of it. 

They spent the entire day together talking about everything and nothing. “I was at the first performance.”

“Shut up!” She said, clasping her hands over her mouth. “It wasn’t uncommon for an immortal, but it always fascinated her anyway. “You were at the first ever performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet?”

Happily, he nodded and asked for a fresh cup of coffee from the waitress. “Yes, I even got to meet him. Reclusive, but he was kind.”

“I’m so jealous,” she said. “Well, my mother and I attended the execution of Marie Antoinette and I had my portrait done by Claude-Jean-Baptiste Hoin.”

Spencer’s eyes went wide. “I’m having breakfast with a real life model,” he laughed. “You look great for your age.”

“I try,” she giggled. “Drink lots of water. Also wine. Wine is good for the skin.”

They spent nearly all day trading stories. “Would you maybe want to go ice skating tomorrow night?” He asked. He hadn’t been in years.

“I’m no good at it. Can you hold me up?”

“That I can. I’m not an expert, but I have been able to maintain the basics after 515 years.”

He hadn’t had a significant other in nearly 200 years. He was remembering what it felt like again. And he didn’t want to let it go.

The next day was Christmas Eve. You had a date. Like an actual date. With Spencer. Tonight. You’d spent lifetimes with quite a few people, but they’d all come and gone and it had been at least 75 years since you’d been on a date. 

For the majority of the morning, you made cookies for your mother and Charlie. Your little challenge for yourself every Christmas was to come up with a cookie type that your mother hadn’t ever eaten, or more likely, hadn’t eaten in years. This year was a brownie cookie mix with butterfinger in it; it was a good thing immortals tended to have really high metabolisms, because you’d been eating this shit all morning. 

But finally, after the sunset, you wrapped yourself up to go out and meet Spencer. You got there before he did, lacing up your skates just as Spencer arrived and grabbed his own. “Ready to go,” he said, standing up and extending his hand to yours. “I won’t let you fall, I promise.”

“At least don’t laugh at me if I do,” you replied with a chuckle. 

Spencer pulled you onto the ice and you felt your legs wobble. How could you not be better at this after 400 years? “I’ve got you. Just push forward.” It took a few minutes to get going, but finally you were able to glide well enough to go around the rink with Spencer. You skated hand-in-hand, trying your best not to hit into the little kids that were miles better than you despite the fact that you had at least 390 years on them. “See you’re getting it!” He laughed. The breeze off the rink was tinging his cheeks red. “Y-you look b-beautiful tonight by the way.”

“Nervous?” You asked sweetly.

“It’s not every lifetime I come across someone who strikes my fancy.”

“’Strikes my fancy’ is definitely an old man phrase,” you laughed. “But thank you. You look awfully handsome yourself.”

After another couple of laps around the rink, you decided to get off. It was starting to snow and you wanted to take a walk by the lake nearby. You returned your skates to the renter near the rink and grabbed Spencer’s hand before walking over to the lake. 

You wandered slowly, watching as the snowflakes descended onto the water, some disappearing into the rippling stream, and other crystallizing next to the patches of ice that had begun to form. “There are some things I never get bored of,” he said suddenly. He held his gloved hand out for a snowflake. “Snow is one of those things.”

“Well, that’s because every snowflake is different, so even in your 500-plus years on this earth, every single one has been unique,” you said, looking up just as he glanced at you. Biting your lip, you leaned in, hoping he’d do the same.

When your lips met his, a warmth immediately spread through you. You clutched at the collar of his coat and brought him in closer. He responded in kind, deepening the kiss and blocking everyone else in the world out. 

All of a sudden, you felt a flurry fall over your skin, but it wasn’t a snowflake. You couldn’t see what it was. Whatever it had been was gone before you even pulled away from Spencer. “Did…did you just feel what I did?”

“Like a flurry around you. Feathery?”

His half-lidded eyes widened as his lips curled into a smile. “Yea, I…I think that’s…what I’ve heard so much about.”

It had taken a moment to comprehend it, but this is exactly what your mother had been talking about. Spencer was your soulmate - and you were his. 

No longer wanderers.


End file.
